


New Rules

by marklesparkle



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, PJO AU, Soft Boyz, mark? the son of athena? more likely than u think!, rated for language!!!!!!1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-17 18:38:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14195223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marklesparkle/pseuds/marklesparkle
Summary: In which Donghyuck glows brighter than the sun but he's not an actual son of Apollo.





	New Rules

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes i love pjo and markhyuck and dua lipa !
> 
> i saw this rlly nice post on the tumble a couple hundred years ago that talked about making the children of the gods nothing like their godly parents and i just kind of ran with it??? :o 
> 
> kiss me, kill me by la bouquet is The Perfect song 4 this i think so maybe give it a listen??
> 
> i changed my writing style a lil bit too to make it more pjo style?? lmfao call me simon spier bc the sentence fragments r unreal in this im so sorry wokdwoedkw anyways! thanks 4 reading , enjoy!
> 
> (it's 4 am have mercy on me and my millions of mistakes)

When they first meet, Donghyuck has six beads hung around his neck.

His skin is golden and his eyes are an even more brilliant shade of amber in the afternoon sunlight. The grin tugging at his lips is a mile wide; when Mark looks at him that first day, he feels like maybe he _isn’t_ stuck at a camp masked by the scent of strawberries to ward off blood-thirsty monsters, after all. Maybe he’s dreaming about angels again and at any moment Johnny or Jaehyun will snap him out of his endless reverie in Mr. Zhang’s class.

But, the moment that Mark’s eyes catch the _actual_ medieval sword fight behind Donghyuck’s glowing face he’s quite quickly snapped out of any delusion he might have had about this being anything but real. There’s no question in his mind about the authenticity of the _thing_ with a lion’s face and dragon’s rear-end that tried to bake and broil him alive on their way there. His favorite pink pocket-tee had scorched to hell on the back-side; no amount of laundering was going to fix it. How Mark’s ever going to explain to his dad that the reason his eyebrows were nearly seared off was because he’d been forced to fight a _demon_ from the _underworld_ when he was supposed to be “studying” with his two best friends, he has no idea. Mark is only fourteen and nothing makes sense but he does know one thing.

This is real. _Too_ real.

The sound of Jaehyun’s voice from beside him startles Mark; he’s almost forgotten he and Johnny were the ones who guided him to camp in the first place. “Go get Chiron,” he directs at Donghyuck, who’s grin has dropped and is instead replaced with an expression devoid of any emotion as he looks at the older boy. His eyes are dark, almost black. Every ounce of sunlight he had been exuding only moments earlier when he greeted the rugged trio at the tree line had evaporated completely; the once bronze flecks in Donghyuck’s eyes had transformed into angry clouds. Mark gulps.

“As you wish, whorehound,” he snips, turning around in the opposite direction the group had been standing before the other can even react to the insult thrown in his face.

Jaehyun, clearly used to this type of comment, simply sighs. His usually neatly-styled hair had been absolutely demolished by the … creature… that attacked them in the middle of the library. Even on his worst days, he looked more put together than Mark did on his best. In all the time they knew each other, Jaehyun had never had a single pimple or bad hair day; that’s just the way it is with him. He’s more than effortlessly handsome and seeing him so fucked up, for lack of better words, is more than a little disconcerting for Mark, who’s kind of used to freak accidents ruining his life. And face.

The only difference between the past disasters and the present one that quite literally ended moments ago is that Mark isn’t going to be going home to his apartment on Canal Street any time soon. He can’t call his father and ask to be bailed out of whatever trouble he’s gotten into by existing. This _is_ home now. Greek gods are the new normal. Demi-gods are the new normal. Magical creatures are the new normal. _Donghyuck_ is the new normal and so is medieval combat. _Fucking fantastic._

“Now do you believe us?” Johnny asks, pushing long brown hair out of his sweat-glossed face. He stands a good couple of inches ahead of both Mark and Jaehyun, but his features are soft around the edges and there’d never been a time when Mark was intimidated by him in the time they were friends. Up until today. Who knew Johnny Suh, of all people, was a sword master? _Surely_ not Mark Lee.

Heat dusts Mark’s cheeks. He’s suddenly consumed with a childish guilt for not believing the pair of older boys when they tried to get him to leave campus much earlier than he originally intended. Maybe none of this would’ve happened if he had listened to the urgent plea in Jaehyun’s voice the first time he was asked to leave his research instead of waiting until he was not-so-nicely demanded to _drop the fucking stacks, c’mon!_

But, looking back, Mark thinks he reacted like any normal human being would. Was he supposed to abandon his belongings in a public place just because Jaehyun told him to? Was he supposed to whole-heartedly trust a teenager who was barely older than him when he told Mark that Greek gods and monsters still exist and can be commonly found in New York City? _Um, no._

Not knowing what to say, Mark looks down at his torched Converse. _I never liked how white they were, anyways,_ he tells himself. “Do I have any other choice?” he retorts. He starts to laugh, but there’s no humor in it. He can feel a plethora of different emotions coursing through his chest as he runs his hands through his hair and catches Jaehyun’s eyes. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now? I think I deserve to know more than ‘Greek gods exist and they make a fuck-ton of babies with mortals,’ Jae. I want _real_ answers.”

The blonde exhales again, this time deeper. He sounds exhausted and usually Mark would take pity on his friend, considering the shit they went though in a twenty-four-hour span. But, he’s tired, too. His clothes are ruined (again), he’s been separated from his dad (again), and he destroyed a fucking library (surprisingly a first). He just wants an explanation that makes sense; something concrete to wrap his mind around. _That’s not asking too much._

The older boy puts his arm around Mark’s shoulder and squeezes his arm, reminding the younger that despite all that’s happened, Jaehyun is still his closest and best friend. “We’ll tell you everything you need to know after you get some rest, okay? I know you’re confused and tired, but trust me, Mark. You’re safe. Everything’s fine. You don’t have to run anymore,” he promises, really smiling for the first time that day. His face is as messed up as Mark’s knows his is, but there’s still a comfort to be found in Jaehyun’s dimples. “Now, c’mon, I’ll show you to the infirmary. We need to get you patched up before Chiron totally mind-fucks you. A new shirt wouldn’t hurt, either,” he chuckles, ruffling Mark’s hair.

The pair make their way down the hill and towards the cabins below. Johnny, forever a beat behind, trails behind them slowly, acting as a third-wheel. He remembers his own first day at Camp Half-Blood and how traumatizing it was to learn that everything you thought you knew about your life and family was a lie. He grimaces but then shakes his head with a laugh as he watches the two in front of him walk. _Mark’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’ll be fine._

Little did any of them know, the head on Mark’s shoulders really was good. It was great, even.

As expected from any son of Athena.

-

“So, you’re telling me your mom is _Aphrodite_?” Mark blanches, attempting to not let his jaw hit the floor. It’s the end of Mark’s first full day at Camp Half-Blood and the campfire is about to be in full-swing at any moment. The two are sat at a lone log at the back of the crowd, aimlessly chattering and ignoring the songs being sung around them at once. “No offense, but I didn’t see that coming.”

Jaehyun laughs, his dimples popping making yet another appearance. Seeing him smile so freely sets Mark’s heart at ease, although he’d never admit it out loud. As Jaehyun smiles just inches from his face, Mark begins notices how truly beautiful his friend is up-close and personal. Along with his obviously smooth complexion and white teeth, there’s a certain air of _allure_ that surrounds Jaehyun. The freckles painting his cheeks are more than patches of melanin; they resemble actual constellations. Mark swears he sees Orion underneath his left eye before Jaehyun’s speaking again, watching Mark watch him all the while.

“The one and only,” he affirms, grin splitting his freakishly handsome face in half. “Also, none taken. Children of Aphrodite usually have the subtlest kind of powers. I mean, you did _just_ notice that I’m hot, so no offense, but I’m not expecting you to be an Athena kid,” Jaehyun snorts. If Johnny were sat with them, he’d no doubt call him out for being a narcissistic asshole but because he’s all the way on the other side of the fire with the rest of the Hermes cabin, the comment is left to fester under Mark’s skin.

The jab is shallow and Mark knows Jaehyun doesn’t really mean to call him an idiot so plainly, but something about the remark digs at his ego. He wants to lash out and say that it had taken him no time at all to see how good-looking Donghyuck is, but he swallows the comment just as quickly as it comes to mind. Instead he smiles without teeth turns away from Jaehyun to look out at the fire. “None taken,” Mark parrots, feeling more like an outsider at a camp full of people who are supposed to be exactly like him than he had at any new school he’d moved to over the years. “If I were Athena I wouldn’t want to claim me, either.”

It’s quiet between them for another few minutes. Mark thinks Jaehyun’s reticence is his way of apologizing for being an egotistical gremlin but the truth of the matter is that his older companion has been quite literally stunned into silence. The first inkling of thought that alerts Mark that something’s not right are hushed whispers and the abrupt halt of the song everyone had been previously singing. There’s no more music playing, only an ocean of voices saying things Mark’s untrained ears can’t hear. The stares come next, hundreds of pairs of eyes not gaping at Mark himself, but at the spot right above his head, swinging from left to right. He has no clue what any of it means until Jaehyun swears in the seat next to him, skin colored a ghastly white. “ _Holy shit_ ,” he breathes, urging Mark to look up with an urgent shove to his arm.

Low and behold, above Mark’s head like some sort of futuristic hologram is a single tawny owl swooping through the night sky.

_I **really** did not see that coming._

-

After the claiming fiasco, Mark quickly adjusts to life in Cabin 6.

Doyoung, head counselor of the Athena kids, is nice enough. He has no problem showing Mark around and giving him the inside scoop on all the gadgets that lay within their little section of camp. His hair is bright red that makes him stick out even worse than Johnny and his ridiculously long legs. Along with his unmistakable hair, Doyoung’s eyes are all kinds of sharp that make Mark slightly uncomfortable when they land on him for too long. Besides that, he’s incredibly kind-hearted when it comes to dealing with the new kid. This clearly isn’t his first rodeo.

For what it’s worth, it’s surprisingly nice to have a bunk of his own, not that he minded the Hermes cabin in the first place. He actually thinks he’s going to kind of miss Johnny as his head counselor, even if the arrangement had lasted less than forty-eight hours. But, _still._ Mark adores the feeling he gets in the Athena cabin, among siblings who look nothing like him, but share the same intellectual gifts. The wall of books in the back of the cabin is enough to make Mark feel equal parts home and home-sick. There’s a pang in his chest every time he sees one of his brothers or sisters pulling things off the shelf because it reminds him all too much of the mini-library he and his dad had put together in their latest apartment. He hadn’t been there in weeks, now, and he hadn’t seen his father in as much time. He’s almost been at Camp Half-Blood for a whole month.

Having no contact with his dad has been hard, but Mark knows better than to try to talk to him just yet. Chiron had said he’d arrange something so he’d know his son was okay, but that was a while ago and Mark really has no idea how else he’s supposed to notify him that he hasn’t, in fact, died. Cell phones are a big no-no at camp and Iris messaging is almost entirely out of the question because Mark has no golden drachmas, let alone has he ever seen one with his own two eyes. To say he’s hopeless would be an understatement.

“I’m sure Chenle has some spare drachmas if you really want to call him,” Renjun, one of Mark’s new-found friends and children of Apollo, assures him. They’re making their way to the pier where said son of Poseidon is happily making conversation with the fish, not paying the approaching two any attention at all. “He can definitely set you up with an Iris message, too, if you don’t know how. He’s kind of the expert,” he assures.

Mark shakes his head, not wanting to burden the youngest of his friends with such a task. He glances back at Renjun and silently tells him to not worry about it with a single gesture. “No, it’s fine, really! I’ll figure something out soon; I don’t want to bother Chenle…or Poseidon,” he replies, voice on the edge of panic. His mother and Chenle’s father have some rough history together and the _last_ thing Mark wants to do is fuck things up with the king of the sea. He already has it rough as it is being one of the most ditzy Athena kids on surface level. “I’ll do this without Iris messaging. Or water.”

“Hey guys!” Chenle greets. He seems to have finally noticed them as their feet hit the deck. “What’s wrong, Mark? You look like someone put a real nasty dent in your armor,” he jokes. He grins at his own terrible sense of humor but Mark’s heart isn’t any less fond of the boy.

Renjun jabs Mark in the ribs and narrows his eyes at the taller boy silently demanding he explain the situation to Chenle. _For an Apollo kid, he’s pretty violent,_ Mark thinks. “Ah, nothing, really,” Mark starts, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “I’m trying to find a way to let my dad know I’m okay. I haven’t talked to him since I’ve been here and I know he has to be freaking out by now. I mean, not that I’ve never disappeared on him before, but like, not for this long, y’know? I’d usually call him by now, but, uh, there aren’t any phones here.”

“Why can’t you just use Iris messaging?” Chenle immediately asks, slipping his sandals back on. He joins the pair, making them a trio, and they begin their ascent back towards the heart of camp. The sun is setting behind them and Mark’s stomach is rumbling in his belly as Chenle speaks again. “Do you need some drachmas? I’m pretty sure I can get some from Jaemin if you do. You could even use the fountain in my cabin if you want.”

Mark winces and looks at Chenle like he’s kidding. “Your dad…is _Poseidon_.”

“Yes?” Chenle raises an eyebrow.

“And my mom is… _Athena_.”

It takes a second for the realization to sink in but when it does Chenle’s wince mimics Mark’s. “ _Oh_.” He, too, scratches his neck awkwardly. “I guess that’s canceled, then. Oops! I always forget about the family drama,” he shrugs, cackling. His blonde hair blows in the wind, making his permanently wind-swept appearance more apparent. “I was about to suggest the pegasi but then I remembered that’s also dad’s terrain. Double yikes,” he winces again.

Renjun rolls his eyes. He’s in the middle of them and seems to have been just barely holding in his annoyance for the imbeciles on either side of him. “I’m sure someone around here has extra drachmas, Mark. You don’t have to use Chenle’s fountain to Iris message, either. _Gods_ , even I could teach you how to do it.” He pauses and then looks at the oldest of the three like he’s about to deliver some very unfortunate news. “Or you could just ask Chiron about speeding up the whole ‘arrangement’ or whatever it is he’s setting up for you. I know—crazy idea.”

The dinner tables are fast approaching but Mark still has no idea how to tell his friends that while _yes_ , he could use the Iris messaging system, it’s not the same thing as seeing his father in the flesh and blood. An overrated magical Skype call isn’t what Mark’s looking for; he wants to go home. _Real_ home. And see his _real_ family. Even if it is for only a few minutes.

Before Mark can muster up the courage to speak his objections, Chenle all but ruins the silence that surrounds them. “Wait, no, I have a better idea! Instead of asking Chiron, you can ask Donghyuck,” he beams at them both. Renjun and Mark turn to look at each other with the same confused expression before turning back to Chenle on the far-right side. “Lee Donghyuck? Son of Hades? Shadow traveler extraordinaire? Ring a bell to either of you?”

Mark’s eyes grow comically large, so much so that he could pass for a twin of his mother’s symbol. “Are you _crazy_? Shadow traveling? Doesn’t that take, like, an enormous amount of energy to pull off? I’m not about to ask some random stranger to almost kill themselves for me, Chenle. I think I’d rather try flying a Pegasus back to New York, thank you very much,” he rambles, feeling the familiar bloom of heat crawl up his neck and onto his ears at the slightest mention of Donghyuck.

It had only been a month since Mark’s life had become completely centered around being a demi-god but in that short time period he’d managed to grow a crush on perhaps the most adorable boy at camp. Who coincidentally can summon the dead. And kill flowers. And people. And cause earth quakes that put Chenle’s to shame. Oh, and he also conveniently knows how to shadow travel. _Conveniently._

“’Random stranger?’ Mark Lee, I _know_ you’re not lying to my face right now; Donghyuck is anything but some rando with dangerous powers to you,” Renjun accuses, poking Mark in the chest with more force than necessary. His black hair is longer than Mark’s at the moment so it flops into his eyes as he does it. Mark can’t take him too seriously until he gets a haircut. “Fine. Be complicated about it and act like you and Hyuck don’t make googly eyes at each other over arts and crafts. Keep pretending he wouldn’t summon a skeleton army for your clumsy ass if you asked,” he groans, rubbing his temples. Talking to Mark for more than five consecutive minutes always gives him a headache. “You know what? Choke for all I care. I’m hungry, bye,” he waves, exiting the group without so much as a backwards glance.

In the wake of Renjun’s dramatics Chenle is beside himself with laughter, crouching over his knees and holding his stomach. Meanwhile, Mark wants to crawl in a hole and die.

“I’m going to ask Chiron after dinner,” Mark murmurs, quite enough that Chenle can barely hear it underneath his incessant chortling. “I hate you guys,” he huffs, lightly kicking Chenle’s foot. “Hyuck barely knows I exist outside of activities! You’re both delusional,” he concludes. With that, he leaves the only son of Poseidon by himself at the edge of the tables to join the other Athena kids as they gather around Doyoung.

As he wipes the tears from his eyes, Chenle smiles to himself. _That’s what you think, whiz kid._

-

A week passes and before Mark knows it, bus tickets back home are being thrust in his hand by Jaehyun one Saturday morning. “Chiron said you have until sundown to be back or he’s considering you dead,” he says seriously, no hint of humor in his eyes. Mark opens his mouth to respond, his feet already going numb with panic, but Jaehyun’s already laughing evilly in his face. “ _Gods_ , Mark, I’m kidding. You gotta stop taking me so seriously. I saved your life one time—we’re back on the bant train now, alright?” He squeezes Mark’s shoulder, a typical Jaehyun move, and the tension in his body all but evaporates.

Mark sighs but says nothing about how truly aggravating Jaehyun’s personality can be even at the best of times. Instead, he grits his teeth and smiles. “You got it, Jae.”

Jaehyun pats his shoulder again. “That’s what I like to hear! Now, grab that trusty little dagger of yours and pack your backpack for the morning train because the Gray sisters will be here at any minute,” he advises. Today he’s sporting the typical orange Camp Half-Blood shirt with a pair of ripped jeans, but as usual, he doesn’t look anything less than divine.

Mark, who’s only just woken up and showered, finds it to be especially irritating this early in the morning. He’s about to pocket the tickets and make a bee-line for the Athena cabin when he notices that there’s not one set of roundtrip tickets, but two. He quickly looks up from his hands to see Jaehyun starting to walk away but before he can completely escape, Mark grabs him by the wrist. “Wait! Jaehyun, you gave me two tickets. Who else is going?”

The grin Jaehyun had been wearing disappeared as he turned around to answer Mark’s question. He rolls his eyes like a toddler. “Donghyuck. Would you mind spreading the news to him, by the way? I’m kind of busy,” he flashes one last fake smile before turning around for good and heading off to Gods knows where. Mark wants to scream.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” is what Mark groans as a desperate plea for the older boy to come back, but to no avail. Jaehyun’s long gone in a matter of seconds, leaving Mark with a two bus tickets and a death sentence. “ _Great_.”

-

Mark gets ready in record time, shoving his dagger, camera, and notebook in his only backpack along with the tickets. He perches a cap on his head and throws on whatever camp t-shirt he’d recently borrowed from Lucas that’s clean and heads out the door. The only reason he hasn’t had a complete breakdown about Donghyuck coming with him is because he doesn’t have time to. The Gray sisters wait for no one, especially not Mark and his emotions.

 _I’m going to murder Jaehyun_ , is what he keeps chanting to himself as he approaches the Hades cabin. He knows there’s no other occupants other than Donghyuck, but his anxiety still sky-rockets the second he starts knocking. The time on his watch reads 8:52 AM; their bus leaves at 9:30. NYC traffic is an absolute bitch on the weekends and the panic is starting to swelter Mark as he waits for Donghyuck to open the door. They’ve only had a total of five conversations Mark’s whole time at camp and he almost cried during three of them because the sight of Donghyuck’s smile alone brings tears to his eyes. _That type of beauty should only be reserved for Aphrodite kids_ , Mark swears.

When Donghyuck finally does answer the door he’s fully dressed and smiling adorably. A backpack is casually slung over his shoulder and he’s dressed in a simple white t-shirt with yellow shorts. There’s a hat on his head, too, that reads Camp Half-Blood, and it makes Mark more than elated to know he won’t have to explain this shit-show, after all. _Gods bless it._

“You ready?” Donghyuck asks, stepping out into the sunlight and closing the cabin door behind him. His long auburn hair is shaggy underneath his cap and Mark has to pinch himself so he doesn’t stare too long. Like the absolute anxiety-ridden fool he is, Mark says nothing. He nods instead because he doesn’t trust his voice in the slightest right now.

They wordlessly start their trek towards the entrance of camp. Mark’s already perfectly fine with the silence and is in the middle of secretly hoping it’ll continue for most of the trip when Donghyuck shatters the notion completely. “I hope you don’t mind me tagging along. Chiron was looking for more experienced campers to go with you, since you’ve only been here a month and sending you on your own would be actual suicide. I haven’t been to the city _ages_ and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to volunteer. I’m sorry if you were wanting Jaehyun to come along,” he says, his expression twisting at the mention of the pretty boy.

Mark vigorously shakes his head, forcing himself to train his gaze on the arc angel beside him and not at his feet. His smile is small as he looks at Donghyuck but he hopes the meaning in it is sincere. “I don’t mind at all. I was actually hoping Jaehyun _wasn’t_ going to be my chaperone,” Mark admits, sheepishly gripping the straps of his backpack. “He can be a bit much.”

The cackle that comes out of Donghyuck’s mouth startles Mark, but he finds himself grinning alongside him nonetheless. “I know what you mean. He can be a real asshole, sometimes. The worst part is he blames it on his mom—like it’s _her_ fault he thinks he’s hot shit,” he huffs. “As if.”

Mark nods, not intentionally meaning to side with Donghyuck. He momentarily forgets the anxiety that plagues him as he agrees with the beautiful boy in yellow. “He acts like _he’s_ Aphrodite, not her half-mortal son; it’s kind of ridiculous sometimes. And I know that he’s a great person underneath it all, but if it weren’t for Johnny constantly keeping him humble, I have no idea what he’d turn into,” Mark starts. “I mean, the only way I’m similar to my mom at all is that I like books. I’m pretty sure I’m the most obtuse guy in Cabin 6 but sometimes I’m glad to _not_ be an intellectual. I think it could easily get to my head like it does to Jaehyun.”

They stop at the tree on the top of the hill and wordlessly keep an eye out for the Gray sisters, but there’s no sign of them. Donghyuck takes this as a sign to continue the conversation. He adjusts the cap on his head and drops his backpack on the grass below them, then sits down with his hands in his lap. Mark follows suit as he listens to the younger, yet wiser, boy. “The fact that you used the word ‘obtuse’ is proof enough that you belong in the Athena cabin whether you believe it or not,” he giggles, covering his hands with his mouth. “But honestly? I’m in the same boat as you; I’m almost nothing like my dad. No one ever thinks I’m a child of the Underworld.”

Their knees are almost touching as they sit across from one another in the grass. Mark tries to not think about stains he’ll likely get on the bottom of his shorts and instead focuses his mind on looking at Donghyuck. Like every other day, his skin glows in the sunlight. The light colors of his wardrobe contrast with deep tone of his skin, giving him the illusion of being even more tan than he actually is. Overall, Mark thinks he’s stunning. Even if his hair is a mess and his shirt is slightly wrinkled, Mark is intrigued by his mere existence. It’s almost impossible to believe Donghyuck isn’t a son of Apollo with how luminous his entire being is.

Before Mark can fathom the consequences of his actions, or words, he’s already opening his mouth and agreeing for a second time. “I thought you were an Apollo kid at first. You’re sort of radiant, if you haven’t noticed,” he confesses.

Donghyuck looks up from where he’d been pulling at the grass in the circle between their crossed legs. The tips of his mouth are pulled upwards ever-so-slightly and Mark thinks he might genuinely pass out. The softness in Donghyuck’s eyes as he does nothing but _stare_ at him, openly examining every feature on Mark’s face in the silence that follows his outburst is enough to make him want to cry. The pin-pricks are at the forefront of his tear ducts when Donghyuck does something unexpected. He puts his hand on Mark’s knee. The grin that follows the action is brighter than any New York City skyline Mark had ever seen in his entire fourteen years of life.

“I hadn’t noticed, actually. Thank you for pointing it out to me,” he says, eyes still focused on Mark’s face. Up this close, Mark can see the heavy bags underneath them. Donghyuck squeezes his knee as he continues. “I don’t have any problems with my dad being who he is, I really don’t. It’s the circle of life; people are born, people die and that’s just the way it works. Cue scary music and evil auras, yaddah-yaddah. The thing I hate is when people expect me to be a carbon copy of him. Like, everyone thinks you’re supposed to be your exact Godly parent, which is complete dog shit. It’s almost like if you aren’t the textbook definition of whatever your parent’s kids are supposed to be, you’re a circus freak around here. I don’t get it.”

“I don’t think you’re a freak,” Mark supplies unhelpfully; he’s forgotten to be bashful at this point. “I think you’re the most interesting person at camp.”

This time it’s Donghyuck who blushes, the tips of his ears match the shade of his hair. “I think you’re pretty interesting, too, Mark Lee.” He breaks eye contact to find Mark’s hand in the grass, clasping it softly in his own. “Didn’t Athena claim you to prove Jaehyun’s aggravating ass wrong?” he asks, finding Mark’s eyes again.

The boy with black hair nods, scrunching his nose at the memory. “Yeah, she did,” Mark replies. He laughs shortly as a taxi cab shrouded in fog approaches the hill. The teenage boys stand up in unison, hands still intertwined. Donghyuck dusts shredded grass off both himself and Mark, not phased in the slightest by the moving vehicle speeding towards them at the speed of light. “My mom’s pretty cool, even if we are nothing alike.”

Donghyuck snorts, throwing him a disbelieving look. “There’s nothing wrong with being a soft, pliable child of Athena. Not everyone’s meant to be a warrior or lead troops into battle, Mark. There’s nothing wrong with you because you can’t memorize the periodic table. Leave that lame shit to Doyoung and the other instruction manual minions.” He knocks their hands against Mark’s leg and points to the terribly parked cab awaiting them a few feet away. “Now, let’s go find your dad and try to not meet mine on the way there. Okay?”

“Okay,” Mark agrees. “But, just for the record, if we do meet your dad I’m _not_ telling him I thought you were Apollo’s. Talk about awkward…”

Donghyuck cracks up, pulling Mark by the hand towards their ride. “You’ve got yourself a deal, brain boy.” 

**Author's Note:**

> idk if donghyuck as the son of hades has been done yet or if anyone's ever made mark the son of athena but. i just felt this In My Bones so thnx for reading ilu all ! i'm gnna start taking requests again so if u have one send it to me on cc or twt and i'll do my best!!! :^)
> 
> talk to me on twitter/curious cat: m4rk1ee


End file.
